Overweight smokers with high cholesterol and blood pressure could pay $2,000 more a year in health insurance deductibles than their fitter co-workers under a new type of insurance being offered by the nation's largest insurer.

Workers would no longer get their health and retirement benefits directly from employers, but would shop through regional "benefit administrators," under a proposal released today by a group representing more than 100 of the nation's largest employers, including IBM, Tyco, DuPont and General Motors.

Billionaire Donald Trump gave $10,000 to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to help pay off his campaign debts, a little more than a month after the governor guest-starred on Trump's TV show "The Apprentice: Los Angeles," according to a campaign filing.

Billionaire Donald Trump gave $10,000 to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to help pay off his campaign debts, a little more than a month after the governor guest-starred on Trump's TV show "The Apprentice: Los Angeles," according to a campaign filing.

Denise Wheeler, an artist in Laguna Beach, Calif., thought she and her family had health insurance. So did Tony Seals, a self-employed businessman in nearby Riverside. But each was left with tens of thousands in unpaid medical bills when their insurers all major companies retroactively canceled their policies.

Republican Rep. Bill Thomas, the powerful chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, announced Monday he will retire from Congress after serving for more than a quarter century. Thomas, 64, made the announcement in his hometown of Bakersfield.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will return a $50,000 donation from a partner in a tribal casino project after The Associated Press raised questions about the governor's pledge to limit political contributions, an aide said Wednesday.

Financially outgunned opponents of a Californai ballot proposition have launched a cheap, unconventional weapon an animated cartoon to combat a multimillion dollar television campaign waged by businesses that want new limits on lawsuits against them.